'Prince' John Albert's UFC on FUEL TV 1 goal is simple: Get on the main card

http://mmajunkie.comWhen you’re a newer UFC fighter who’s hoping to garner some attention and make a name for yourself, there’s one thing you really need.

UFC president Dana White laid it out for “The Ultimate Fighter 14″ cast member John “Prince” Albert about an hour before his official UFC debut back in December.

“You do everything you can to be on that main card,” an impassioned White told him.

Albert (7-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who next fights fellow bantamweight Ivan Menjivar (23-8 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at Wednesday’s UFC on FUEL TV 1 event, recently joined MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) and discussed the passionate speech White gave him and other fighters on the card.

Albert, who fought his way onto the “TUF 14″ cast this past year, suffered a loss to eventual show winner John Dodson in the quarterfinals. But against fellow cast member Dustin Pague at the show’s live finale, he had a second chance to secure a UFC contract.

And he did so in emphatic fashion: After entering the cage to the 1960s country hit “Big Bad John,” Albert dropped Pague with a right. He then immediately pounced, moved into mount, and then reached behind Pague’s head and wrapped his own arm around his neck. With Pague essentially pinning himself, Albert unloaded a dizzying barrage of punches to force the TKO stoppage in just 69 seconds. It was his seventh stoppage win in seven career wins – and his sixth in the first round.

Although it took place on the night’s untelevised prelims, the flashy finish aired via delay on night’s Spike TV broadcast just prior to a highly rated headliner between “TUF 14″ coaches Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.

“If you saw my last fight with Pague, Dana was backstage giving us a great speech about how you want want to be on the main card, how that’s your goal,” Albert told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “I told myself, ‘I’m getting on that main card.’ If you saw, I TKOd Pague in a minute, and that put me right before … Bisping and Miller in the broadcast.

“So I was on the undercard and got put on the main card, and I’m going to try to do it again.”

In two days, Albert heads to Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Neb. While the main card airs on FUEL TV, Albert fights on Facebook in the featured preliminary-card bout.

Knowing he still has a long way to go before he’d be in serious title contention, the 25-year-old is focused on realistic goals. And one of them includes proving he’s worthy of main-card bookings.

“I’m a realist, man,” he said. “I don’t see the title for years down the road, so my goal now is to fight often. That’s what I want. I don’t want to be fighting every six or eight months. I want people to see me. I want people to see me fight. I want to fight four times a year, if not more.

“And I don’t want to be just a winner. I want to be an exciting fighter too. If fans are happy, they’re going to see more of you. You’re going to be on main cards.”

Against Menjivar, an 11-year vet with “just a ton of fights” under his belt, Albert is being thrown into the deeper end of the UFC talent pool. But a victory against a 31-fight veteran – and one who’s undefeated in the UFC – could do wonders for those main-card aspirations. Menjivar, who currently trains with Tristar Gym and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, is very well-rounded. But Albert thinks their ground skills cancel out each other, so he’s focused on the standup.

And that’s exactly what he’s told his few-hundred followers on his new Twitter account.

“It’s no secret,” he said. “I’ve been tweeting all over, even though I don’t have many followers yet. I plan on putting on a show and keeping it on my feet because I think I can outstrike him. I’m bigger, stronger and faster, so I think there’s where the game is going to stay.

“It’d be back and forth (on the ground) whereas with the standup game, I think I can obviously win.”

This close to fight time, Albert is amped. But with so much riding on the line – and with the opportunity to move up the ranks in the world’s top MMA promotion – is something he doesn’t easily brush aside. The fact that he started his UFC run on such a positive note motivated him even more to keep the momentum going.

“It’s hard to explain,” he said of his whirlwind intro to the UFC. “It’s really unbelievable. I never really thought I’d be in this position.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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